This tile depicting a Madonna with Child is taken from a painting by the Neapolitan painter Domenico Morelli, and is known today only thanks to a photograph in the archives of the Museo Ginori.
The tile was probably produced in 1878, when it was presented at the Universal Exposition in Paris with the indication of the model number and decoration however, it was cited as a prototype at the 1873 Vienna Exposition.
The model for this tile, as well as other maiolica pieces taken from almost contemporary works and made by the factory in the same period, probably arrived at Doccia through the mediation of the painter Giuseppe Benassai, friend of Morelli and artistic director of the factory starting in 1870. Benassai, in fact, did not just execute drawings and decorations of his own invention, but also provided printed or photographic prototypes taken from other pictorial sources.
The popularity of these compositions, used as sacred images to be placed above the bed, is also documented by their prestigious buyers, among whom are the Empress of Germany and Queen of Prussia Victoria of Saxe-Coburg-Gotha and the Queen of Italy, Margherita di Savoia.
